Life on the Farm: Hunting Highlights

The hunting season ended recently. I went out three times this year, which is once more than I did last year. The truth is that I am just barely good enough to keep up with the field. Having only regularly ridden horses as an adult, I really don't have the confidence to gallop full speed across 6 fields in one go, jump massive hedges and gates, and navigate my horse amongst the dozens of others surrounding me. Plus, I like to stay close to Christopher and Coco, but I also don't like to feel that I'm holding them back, as they prefer to jump everything and keep a faster pace. Despite the excitement I feel at the meet, two hours in I inevitably ask myself, "What the hell am I doing here?" If I am not worn out physically by then, I am usually exhausted mentally and emotionally. I often ask myself how the 70-year-olds easily carry on for hours after I have made the turn back for my horse box, and I think it comes down to adrenaline. Two hours of vein-pumping adrenaline is exhausting. I think the oldies have the experience to just let their horses take them along, not fighting to slow down or avoid jumps that look too big. Maybe when I reach that age, I will finally be able to just enjoy the ride.

But for now I just love going to the hunting meets on foot. People may have complicated feelings about the hunt and the people that enjoy it, but to me it represents a community-wide ritual with a history and authenticity that I have rarely seen in my life. I love the eccentric characters, the adorable and enthusiastic hounds, the beautifully groomed horses, the impeccable manners with which you are greeted, and of course, the clothes. The clothes are beyond chic. You rarely see anyone wearing anything new. Most of the boots, breeches, jackets, stock pins, and hunting caps are old and worn, likely passed down through generations, but still entirely elegant. The riders themselves also have stunning posture when sitting on a horse, looking far more glamourous than they do standing on the ground. Although it is my ambition to hunt more with each season, for now I am equally happy to be an observer capturing this incredible scene with my camera.

The huntsman greeting the field at the meet.

Sometimes a young hound gets distracted and subsequently separated from the pack. 

An early morning start during the cubbing season.

My favourite moment of the season. The beautiful girl in her bowler hat riding side saddle is too good to be true. (Photo by Christopher)

A fieldmaster coming through our farm late one day. When I am in my office writing I can often hear the hounds yelping in the distance. I first shut Ginger inside, even though it kills her to be excluded. She starts howling like a coyote at the sound of the pack approaching. Then I walk down to the fields, opening the gates to make it easier for field to pass through. Watching them all ride through our "backyard" is breathtaking.

Setting off from the meet.

Navigating the farm land.

These men have obviously spend some time on the ground on this particularly muddy day. (Photo by Christopher)

Christopher riding to a cubbing meet.

Me on Polo at my third and final meet of the season.

The morning light and the slower pace makes cubbing way more my speed.

You can always tell Matt by his top hat. He gets my vote for best dressed every time.

Taking a breather in the sun.

Christopher on his new horse Sylvie. Isn't she pretty?

Matt again. I love how his waistcoat peaks out from under his jacket. And he wears these fleece-y wool jersey breeches that are very chic. 

The hounds having a well-deserved rest at the end of the day.

In the kitchen: Chicken, Tarragon and Tomatoes

Thank you all so much for the cookbook suggestions. I am really looking forward to going to the bookstore now. In New York, I would have gone straight to Amazon, but here we have the loveliest independent bookstore called Jaffe and Neale. It is the heart and soul of our entire town. I go there at least three times a week - to get a latte, pick up a comic book for my son, pick out a present for a friend or buy myself a new book. Going there is so pleasurable, it makes me think twice about ordering online.

Anyway, I promise to show you the results of my fruit-based baking. In the meantime, here is the chicken, tarragon and tomatoes recipe that some of you had requested. It's easy and delicious. Enjoy!

Life on the farm: FOOD

Food is a really big thing for me here in England. First of all, there is no take out or delivery service nearby so you have to cook. This was a problem for me when I first started coming here age 23 because I hadn't yet progressed much beyond college cooking. With my future husband unable to prepare anything other than eggs, baked beans and toast I had no choice but to go down to the local bookshop and get inspired. That first summer I cooked my way through The River Cafe cookbook, and then onto Nigella Lawson the second summer, Tamasin Day Lewis the third, Jamie Oliver the 4th, and so on. This past summer, along with the rest of the world, I made my way through Yotam Ottolenghi's Plenty (much to the delight of my vegetarian daughter), and am now moving onto Hugh Fernley-Whittenstall's "Three Good Things" which is delightfully simple, easy and delicious. You can see I like a cookbook trend. Anyway, this is the way I learned to cook, and mostly only in the summers when I was in England. Every year I managed to convince myself that I would cook more when I went back to New York, but I was always too busy, too stressed or too disorganized.

So now that I am here, my cooking is inspired by my beloved cookbooks, but it really centers around three things: meat, eggs and fresh produce. Where we live in Oxfordshire there are three excellent butchers all equidistant from our house, but in opposite directions from each other. So whichever way I am driving to or away from home, there is always a convenient opportunity to buy an excellent piece of meat. Pork with crackling, leg of lamb, and organic free range chicken are my most frequent purchases.

Then there are the eggs. In addition to our own chickens, my husband's brother and sister, who also live on the farm, have their own laying chickens too. So we are constantly trying to think of new ways to use the eggs. There is no shame about having fried, boiled, or scrambled eggs for breakfast, lunch, or dinner here. My cholesterol must be through the roof!

And finally, the produce. While we won't be able to get our own vegetable garden going until the spring, there are two other kitchen gardens on the farm, and each one could probably feed all three families on its own. So I am always thinking about what is fresh and what needs to be eaten quickly or in great quantity. When I have an abundance that proves too much to cook, I relieve guilt by squeezing them into juice. And if that doesn't happen then the pigs get it, which is fine with me too. But we do have lots of fruit in our garden - pears, apples, all kinds of berries - which has prompted me to search for a baking cookbook. Any suggestions?

The bounty from the kitchen garden.

Leg of lamb, just about to go into the oven. I sliced a very sharp knife into the skin and stuffed a clove of garlic and some rosemary into each hole. While I have always loved that bright green, completely artificial version of mint jelly that Polaner makes in America, I have been won over by a more naturally colored one here in England that tastes a bit more real.

This is the farm stand at my kids' school. They have their own chicken eggs and make their own jam. It's one of the things that won me over when I first visited the school.

My first meal from "Three Good Things" - chicken, tarragon and roasted tomatoes. Easy to cook and totally delicious.

We've had an incredible blackberry season. You know, I never thought I liked blackberries, but eating them straight after picking is delicious! They are much sweeter than any store bought ones I have ever tried.

Lunch is usually a collection of leftovers from previous dinners. My son is a dedicated carnivore and my daughter is a vegetarian, so usually some combination of things I have made for them is perfect for me.

I never get over the wonder of freshly laid eggs. Collecting them never gets boring. 

My breakfast most days of the week. I have soft boiled eggs down to a science. You boil the water and just as its starting to bubble you drop two lit matches into the water (not sure the science behind this but it prevents the cold eggs from cracking as they enter the hot water, according to Tamasin Day Lewis). Then gently drop the eggs in for exactly four and half minutes which ensures the white part is cooked by the yolk is runny enough to dip buttered soldiers (toast strips) into. Salt and pepper are a must.

I never get tired of this kale salad with butternut squash, toasted almonds and clothbound cheddar. If you can believe it, Katie Holmes first told me about it at a Calvin Klein fashion week dinner. It's from a restaurant in NYC called Northern Spy. You can find the recipe online.

It was very very wet here this summer so our raspberries where huge but a little watery. We ate loads nonetheless.

My first ever pie made with blackberries and apples from our backyard. I have to admit that I cheated on the crust - I bought the pastry. It was still delicious, but now that I've done it once, I'll make my own next time.

Sometimes I crave one of my favorite meals from NYC and have no choice but to recreate it. This one is inspired by my favorite lunch from Pain Quotidien.

I was so excited the first time I saw artichokes growing. The whole plant is so beautiful.

More garden bounty.

(My secret treat when I'm in Oxford!).

Life in England: So far

It's been more than three months since we arrived to live in England for our "creative sabbatical" and to be honest I feel like things are just starting to get creative. The summer was filled up with house guests and travel and family time, but now that the kids are settling back into school, I have had some time to find a routine and get a sense of what "real life" will be like for me here. Even though I am really just at the beginning, I already know I am incredibly happy here.

The stark contrast to my regular life in New York City is evident in just about everything I do - taking the kids to and from school, having the time to make three delicious meals a day (now wondering if those size 34 Celine pants still fit...hmmm....), going on hours-long horseback rides, having just a few great friends instead of a million acquaintances, and living amongst animals, fruit trees, and vegetable gardens. There are also the things that take some getting used to - I am terrified at night when my husband is traveling (Blair Witch Project thoughts come roaring into my head), the electricity can randomly turn off for hours at a time, and with all the mud around from the ever-present English rain, it is just not possible to keep anything clean - the car, the house and the bottoms of my jeans are constantly covered in caked mud. I even found caked mud on one of my bed pillows yesterday. No idea how to got there. I also seem to be finding it difficult to adjust to regular car driving - I have run out of gas on a remote country road twice since I got here. Regardless of the ups and downs, family life just fundamentally feels as it should be. Now let's see if it all feels so right in the middle of February when its dark by 3:30 pm and raining for days on end!

This is the view from my kitchen sink. We live in a farmyard, which is total chaos - tractors, hay bales, old equipment, workmen, cars, horse trailers - but our garden is my little patch of calm and beauty. Its the only place where I actually enjoy doing the dishes.

The weather changes so quickly in England, and its typical to have a rainy, cloudy day followed by just enough clearing in the evening to go for a walk and watch a spectacular sunset. When the weather is good here, you have to find a way to get outside and enjoy it because you don't know when you'll get the next chance.

Our garden was so spectacular when we first arrived in June, but by mid-July it was looking pretty much over. It's so sad to think you wait all year for the flowers to be in bloom, and then they last such a short time. Anyway when we arrived back here after being away for most of August, the entire garden had had a late summer revival. What a relief! I must remember to plant more July-blooming flowers in the spring.

Our dog Ginger lives for following us on horse back rides. Sometimes we cover miles and miles, mostly cantering. I don't know how she keeps up. On a recent ride though, I noticed she cut across a field and took a short cut home. I guess she finally found her limit.

I saw this sign at a friend's house (made by her 8 year old) and thought it was so charming. It has now come in handy, as one of our chickens was eaten this past weekend by a Dalmation walking by on the bridle path. If it were up to me I would contain the chickens to the side yard - it would leave them plenty of space to run around. But my husband just loves having them running all over the place, which unfortunately sometimes means them running into the house. Not so charming when they poop on our sisal rug.

Hot air balloons pass over the farm regularly. I'm trying to get my nerve up to do it. I think it would be so incredible to see our part of the world from above. 

The car-boot sales here are incredible! By the way, car-boot refers to the trunk of your car - so its a bunch of cars lined up selling things out of it - kind of like a flea market mixed with a tailgate party. I really loved this military hat with all the pins and I'm kicking myself for not buying it. What was I thinking?

My husband is such a country boy - its hard to imagine that he ever chose to live in New York City for 20 years! He is outside all day here mowing, ploughing, building walls, digging trenches, trimming hedges, weeding, planting, composting, designing outbuildings, etc. And you can't believe the gear he wears to do all these chores. Coco was mortified when he showed up at school in a boiler jumpsuit the other day. He even has a full HazMat get up! When I get enough pictures I just might have to do a post on it. 

There is so much about the English countryside that is completely timeless. This picture of our picnic at a friend's lake just about sums it up.

Last Friday I took Ginger out for a walk and discovered the holy grail of blackberry bushes. Although I was tempted to go at it then and there, I knew it would be so great for the kids to see in all its glory. So Coco and I woke up early on Saturday and picked and picked until we had three huge bowls of them. One bowl got eaten right away, another went into a pie, and the third was given as a present to friends that were having us over for lunch that day.

I love this Pony Club mantra from Coco's camp. The formality in England makes my kids take everything more seriously. It seems to be really good for them. You should see how their table manners have improved since they started their new school. They even eat fruit with a knife and fork!

Nothing makes me happier than to see my kids empowered by the adrenaline rush of being outdoors and able to run free.

The produce here is ridiculously good. Except cherries. The English don't seem to appreciate a firm cherry. Soon I will do a separate post just on food. 

My favorite car-boot sale purchase. Got the whole thing for 20 pounds (30 something dollars!). 

This is the entrance to the farm via the bridle path, which used to be a road. It's my favorite place to ride, mostly because Ginger goes berserk running through the wheat. She disappears into it and then jumps up like a deer, only appearing sporadically. It makes everyone giggle. The reason the pillars are so formal (atypical for a farm) is because our farm used to belong to a very formal house next door. 

Three years ago we moved the tack room. The old one was such a time capsule, decorated with rosettes from Christopher and his siblings' childhood days. It was so sad to see it dismantled. This is the beginning of our next generation rosette wall in the new tack room. 

Coco and her beloved pony Polo. She always wanted to spend more time in England and to me this symbolizes her victory cheer.